Tax increase for alcohol, beer, tobacco should go with combat against smuggling and tax evasion

	Managing electronic stamps for domestically produced cigarettes and alcohol products to prevent revenue loss
	Mixed tax regime not yet applied on beer and alcohol products
	Alcohol and beer are subject to special consumption tax

Kien Giang Customs inspect smuggled cigarettes. Photo: Dang Nguyen.

According to Resolution No. 126 on law-making just issued by the Government, the Government agrees on the necessity of developing a draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (amended).

According to the Government, the draft Law dossier fully reflects the views and policies of the Party and State on policies on special consumption tax to suit the conditions and development trends in the country and the world as well as international practices and commitments to which Vietnam is a member. Accordingly, the Government agrees with the proposed amendments and supplements to the draft Law.

Accordingly, the increase in taxes on a number of items such as alcohol, tobacco, etc should accompany an effective mechanism to prevent and combat smuggling and tax evasion, and have tools to prevent violations of related laws.

Regulations on adjusting tax rates on a number of specific goods and services such as electronic gyms; civil air conditioners, means of transport with operating mechanisms or using environmentally friendly fuels; pickup trucks serving production and business should be explained more sufficiently to ensure consistency and feasibility. At the same time, the tax increase roadmap needs to be calculated reasonably, ensuring the operation of enterprises, avoiding disruption of socio-economic activities.

In this resolution, the Government also requires reviewing, summarizing and researching so that the Law can assign the Government to regulate a number of goods subject to special consumption tax in accordance with rapid fluctuations of the market or social needs, meeting the requirements of flexible state management, covering all taxable goods.

For some revised contents such as determining taxable prices, tax refunds, tax deductions, etc., it is necessary to carefully evaluate to reduce and simplify administrative procedures and have regulations on digital transformation to ensure transparency, efficiency and consistency in state management activities.

The Government also requests the Ministry of Finance to continue to proactively evaluate, review and collect opinions from relevant agencies, organizations, localities, associations, experts, businesses and people to ensure the development of regulations that are suitable for practice. At the same time, focusing on policy communication to create consensus on the contents expected to be revised and supplemented.